August 26, 2026

The Dissolution of the USSR

The war in Ukraine is not so much a conflict between states (as was the case with Alsace between Germany and France), but rather a consequence of the dissolution of a state, as happened with Yugoslavia, in the Balkans at the beginning of the 20th century, and so on.

It is not that the Russians claim Donbas because it once belonged to Russia: Russia, as a nation-state, never really existed; it was always an empire that brought together peoples and ethnic groups of the most diverse kinds, from Tatars (whom we call “Tartars”) to Germans (of the Don).

Putin does not claim Donbas because it once belonged to Russia, but on ethnic grounds (highly questionable, moreover); if Ukrainians want to establish their own state, why then do they include Russians in it as well?